Thrill Ride Review

Thrill Ride By Rachel Hawthorne

17 year old Megan Holloway is about to become a senior in high school and is from Dallas, Texas is looking for a summer job, but she wants it to be away from home so she doesn´t have to stay with her mom and her 23 years old sister, while they are planning her sister Sarah´s weeding. So she aplied for a job at Thrill Ride! Amusement Park by Lake Erie, that is in another state. The only disadvantage is that she wont be with her new boyfriends Nick for 3 months. She takes a plane and a bus and finally she is at the amusement park and is really exited. The first thing she does is to check in and go to the room she is sharing with a complete stranger. When she shows up at the room her roommate isn´t there, but she can see from the door that her roommates name is Jordan. Megan first thought is that Jordan must be a total snob, because she has just taken up 3/4 of the room already eventhough she knew she was going to have a roommate. Not long before she has walked into the room, a phone on one of the desks on the room calls. Megan picks up and it is a friend of Jordan, Cole who tells her to tell Jordan he loves her, so Megan just writes a note to Jordan. Minutes after the phone calls again and it is another guy, but this guy seems to be interested in Megan, and tells her her voice is sexy. Megan can´t believe the way he flirts with her and she ask for his name which is Parker, and he tells her to tell Jordan he called. Minutes after her roomie shows up and she doesn´t seem like a snob, but she definently knows a lot of guy because with her is guy number 3 introduced as Ross. Megan gives her the messages and asks about Parker and Jordan tells her that he is 19, is in college and instead of living at these dorms, he lives in a house by the lake not long from here. Jordan ask Megan if she wants to go eat with her and Ross, but she tells she has got to unpack. After she goes out to the lake and think about Nick and how he has been sulking since he find out that Megan got the job, and that they didn´t even get to say goodbye.

When she comes back she meets the other new girls who has never been her before Alisha and Lisa, who Jordan and Megan will be sharing a bathroom with. The next morning there is orientation and Megan gets assigned to Hansel and Gretel gift shop, after there is the tour of the park and then she eats lunch with Ross and Jordan and goes to her costume fitting, where she gets the most ridicules costume. Jordan has left a message when she comes back that she is with Parker. Later she goes out to eat with Alisha and Lisa, to celebrate that Alisha got a role in a stage play. Later that night Parker calls again, and Megan can´t believe the nerve of this guy and he ask her things about how she looks and such. Megan ask if she is suppose to leave a message and he says that she can´t tell Jordan and that he called to talk to her, so they end the conversation just before Jordan shows up. The next day she is trained working and spends the rest of the day on carrousels because she really doesn´t like rollercoasters. By night Jordan invites her to a party at Parker, but she says no and ends up spending the night with Zoe who is a little bit older than Megan and is the supervisor of Megan´s floor. At night Jordan calls to tell she wont be home that she will be sleeping at Parker´s and Parker asks to talk to Megan and he ask her why she didn´t come. She tells him again that she has a boyfriend and he tells her again that he isn´t here and he ask her to come to her next party. After the next days shift Parker and Megan bumbs into each other because they recognize their voices. Parker ask her to go get some ice cream, she says no but eventually says yes. He takes a longer way so he can talk to her more and he tells her he is majoring in film, but Megan doesn´t really want to talk so much with him because: A: she has a boyfriend and she feels she is cheating on him when she talks to Parker. B: he is somehow involve with Jordan, eventhough he says he isn´t but Jordan doesn´t think so, so he thinks he is a jerk and player for hitting on her. So Megan quickly leaves.

A couple of days at night Parker calls to tell Megan that Jordan will be staying with him tonight, and Megan gets snappy and tells him it is not her problem and that he should stop calling her. Megan first day of is monday and Jordan have the day off too so they go shopping, but when they are on their way home the car wont stop, so Jordan calls Parker and he isn´t too friendly with Megan when he shows up. Jordan gets him to swap cars with her and then she and Jordan and Megan will make him dinner. To Megan´s suprise the reason for the car swapping was because Jordan have an appointment to get a manicure and pedicure, so Megan gets one too. They get too the house by the lake and Megan gets introduced to Cole and Ronda his girlfriend. Megan and Jordan cook the meal, but Megan gets burned on her arm from the oven when Parker suprises her. The 5 of them eats dinner and Ross joins them too, and Megan finds out that that Parker is Jordan´s brother and Ross is her boyfriend. Megan is so suprise that she tells them that she tought Parker was her boyfriend and that she had a thing going with Ross too. Parker also tells her that their dad is director. So now Megan knows why they are rich. By wednesday there is a small gatherning at Parker´s house and Megan goes, esspecially since the park closed early because the power whent. Parker and Megan is alone on the porch and she tells him he can´t believe he keeps flirting with her, and he tells her he is interested in her and that he thinks she is in him, and suddenly they are kissing, but when they break Megan hurries out of there. The next night Alisha´s play is performing just for the staff at night and Megan ddoesn´t want to go because Parker will be there and she cant let Alisha down, so she goes and ends up sitting next to Parker. He tells her they should talk and after some convincing she agrees to go with him to the pancake house, were Parker tells them they can just be friends and when they do stuff together like with Jordan the 2 of them get paired up so they isn´t a third wheel. The next day everyone thinks that Parker and Megan are an item and Megan uses her day besides work to tell people they are just friends, and Parker tells her she shouldn´t use her energi on it as long as they know what they are.

He also ask her if she wants to spend the next monday out on the lake with him, Jordan, Ross, Cole and Ronda, and she says yes. they go to the lake and up the a little island, where Parker shows her a lightningtower that is ther, which is suppose to be hunted. After they go back to join the others swimming, but as Megan goes out in the water she hurts her food and it is bleeding much, so they pack up and Parker that her to the hospital. When they get to the dorm Parker takes her in his arms and starts caring her, but they doesn´t even get to the elevator before Sarah suddenly is there and Megan goes out to get coffee with her. Sarah tells her that Parker is definently interested and that she needed to get away because Bobby doesn´t really care about the weeding and she can decide it all. Parker calls and tell her that she can ask her sister if she wants to come with them in the morning at 6 to test Magnum Force - a totally wild rollercoaster - where parker is working and she says yes. She has a good time and goes ome that night. A couple of days later Nick shows up as a suprise visit, when Parker and Megan is walking to the dorm. Nick tells her he missed her and just wanted to see her, so he has no place to stay so Parker offers him his couch and gets home. Megan doesn´t really know what to talk with Nick about and eventhough Nick says he doesn´t like Parker he crashes on his sofa anyway. The next day i the wednesday party and at the party Nick and her goes down to the lake and he tells her that if she doesn´t come with him home he will break up, and Megan chooses to stay. Parker finds her and takes her to the park where she ides a carrousel he knows she like. After a couple of days when Megan get to the dorm, some of her friends come to get her and takes her down to the hotel pool where a party that Jordan tells her, that Parker arrange for her and Megan ends up having a good time. The next wednesday at the party, Megan stays and her and Parker watch a movie and he tells her wont push thing and that thing will happen when she is ready and they end up kissing. That weekend Megan goes home for the weeding and she finds out from Sarah, who just found out yesterday, that the rehearsal dinner is going to be at Hart´s where Nick works. sarah also tells her that she could see when she was there that Parker made her happy and that she shouldn´t be thinking about the end of summer. Before Megan goes home she goes to see Nick to say sorry, and she sees that he is going out with the waitress at Hart, Tess, who he has been complaining about all summer. Megan is picked up by Parker in the airport that sunday and she spends the night with him. The next morning Parker is testeing Magnum Force and he tells Megan to go with him, and he gets her in the roller coaster after he tells her to trust him (That the relationship is going to work and such) and she actually enjoys the ride and there is 6 weeks for her left to be with Parker.

This was a really good, sweet, fast, fun and romantic teen book. And it is one of my favorites of this author. I loved the fact that the story was going on in an amusement park. They have a psychiatrist that help them with roller coaster phobias?? - So much fun. OMG and Jordan she is really like Happy Happy, and she just love all the guys. Okay why is Megan such a party pooper? Really she can call her boyfriend later or on the way, seriously she says that this summer is for her sake, then go do some fun instead of waiting on the boyfriend and such.


Grade: 10-12